The Battle of Georgia takes shape in the playoffs.

#3 Seed Columbus River Dragons (34-16-0-4)

Key Players:

Justin MacDonald (41GP, 23G, 34A)

Ryan Hunter (44GP, 26G, 26A)

Kyle Moore (47GP, 13G, 37A)

G: Trevor Babin (Since Joining Columbus: 499MP, 1.99GAA, 5-2-0, .933 Sv PCT)

G: Matt Petizian (883 MP, 2.72 GAA, 9-4-0, .922 SV PCT)

The Scoop: The River Dragons have a veteran heavy team that has been in these moments in the FPHL. Some of the big names got off to slow starts but they have started to pick it up. JMac, Moore, Hunter, Daae, have all had solid years. It’s also easy to wonder if this is it for a guy like JMac or Daae or even Kirk Underwood.

Goaltending wise, Boomer has to make a decision if he goes with Petizian or the battle tested Trevor Babin, who took the Motor City Rockers to a deep playoff run last year. Columbus has played Athens tight so we’ll see how it comes out.

#2 Seed Athens Rock Lobsters (43-10-1-2)

Key Players:

Garrett Milan (56GP, 37G, 64A)

Carter Shinkaruk (56GP, 14G, 63A)

Filip Virgili (54GP, 28G, 40A)

Kayson Gallant (56GP, 40G, 27A)

G: Josh Rosenzweig (1603MP, 2.21GAA, 21-7-1, .926SV PCT)

G: William Lavalliere (906MP, 2.38GAA, 12-2-1, .935SV PCT)

The Scoop: This team was built to win. They are dynamic, they have a lot of depth throughout the lineup, and Steve Martinson is a winner. Milan is my pick for MVP, and add in Gallant who could very well be Rookie of the Year, along with potential Defenseman of the Year in Shinkaruk, then you have a very loaded top of this team.

They made some very good moves for depth at the deadline, bringing over Avery Smith, bringing over Bohdan Zinchenko from the Dashers. A few late season additions of guys like Adam Oja and Kyle Pow have been huge, as Martinson continued to build his roster.

In goal, it will be a decision to go to the former River Dragon in Lavalliere, or go to Rosenzweig who has been able to show the caliber of goalie he is.

Head-to-Head

12 meetings, Athens won 7-5.

Predictions:

Christian: This will go the distance, and I think we’ll see at least once overtime. Athens in 3.

Mat: Columbus wins one game but it’s all Athens. Too powerful in the end, they just haven’t been out of sync this season.